Family Reunion, Part 3 Lila's daughter
by Marionj2
Summary: Carnivale: Betts continues her journey to explore her heritage, talking with the daughter of Lila the bearded lady.


Betts opened her eyes slowly. Morning! Sunlight! Ugh! She closed them again.

Beside her, Roy stirred. "Hmmmm? You awake?'

"Sort of. But I don't want to get up. I'd rather just stay here for the rest of the weekend."

"Well, unless you've trained Samson to make coffee, we're going to have to get up sooner or later."

"Or we could just stay here and wake up s-l-o-w-l-y…"

"Mmmmm." Roy's voice was muffled against her neck.

"Oh!" He sat up suddenly.

"What?" Betts looked around in alarm.

"No, nothing. I just remembered something. Something to help you in your search for your roots."

Betts opened her eyes wide this time. "What?"

"I told you people came to my grandfather's funeral? One of them was the daughter of someone who worked in the carnival you were asking granddad about. The mother was a bearded lady, apparently."

"Really? Like, a real beard?"

"Yes, she apparently had a real beard, but otherwise she was a normal woman."

"I guess so, if she had a daughter. Can I talk to her?"

"Yes, I got her name and information. She's…what was her name…I'll find it. She should be a good source for you – her mother apparently talked endlessly about those days, about the carnival, and the guy who was the love of her life. She married several times, but it seemed she was always looking to find him again. "

"This is great! Can you get her name now?"

"Now? Like, this minute? Don't we have better things to do with a Sunday morning? Like staying in bed and…"

"Mmm. Well, maybe. Just for a little while."

**A couple of days later,** Betts dialed the number Roy had given her. Marie DuVal lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and answered the phone with a soft Louisiana accent.

"Mrs. DuVal? I was given your name by Roy Osgood. He said you were at his grandfather's funeral, and you might be able to tell me something about the time when your mother was with the carnival."

"Sure thing, honey. My mama loved to talk about those days. Hard to shut her up, sometimes, in fact! It was before I was born, but I heard _all_ about it."

"Your mother was a…a bearded lady, right?"

"Sure was! She was a big attraction. Usually people like her faked the beard, but hers was real. She used to put a hair roller in it at night to make it curl."

Betts smothered her laughter. "Really?"

"Sure. What's your interest in the Carnivale, anyway?"

"My grandparents were Clayton and Elizabeth…Libby…Jones. I'm trying to find out more about their lives. Who else was there? I know about Gabriel, of course – he's my uncle. And I heard a mention of a little man named Samson and some guy named Ben, who is supposed to have healed Granddad's knee."

"Yes, Mama told me that, too. She said Ben was a holy man. Lodz was _real_ interested in him, she said."

"Loads? Loads of what?"

"Non, non," Marie DuVal laughed. "His name was Ernst Lodz – L-O-D-Z. He was the love of Mama's life, I think. After he died, she just kept looking for someone to replace him. She used to say she saw him in all her husbands. Actually, when she got old and her mind was going, she said more than that. She said Lodz's spirit would take over her husband's bodies when they slept, and…well… make love to her."

Betts thought privately that her Mama wasn't the only one who talked too much. And was maybe a little nuts, to boot. "What was your mother's name?"

"Lila. Lila Villanueva. She always kept her own name when she got married. My father didn't like that, but he didn't have a choice."

"This man Lodz was with the carnival too?"

"The Carnivale – she always said it like that – Carni-vahl - had two psychics. One was Lodz, and she said he was for real. He really could read minds. He had been given the power by a partner he used to have. His name was Scutter, I think. Something like that. They used to work in Europe, and then the partner wanted out, and he somehow gave the power to Lodz."

"How could that be?" Betts paused for a moment. "You said there were two psychics?"

"Yes, the other one was paralyzed or something, and couldn't talk. She did all her talking through her daughter, who read tarot cards and knew what her mother was thinking."

"Did they work together, Lodz and this other psychic?"

"Her name was Apollonia. Yes, at one point they worked together, but not later. Apollonia didn't trust him, apparently. But Mama loved him. She never really '

cared much for Apollonia, I think."

"There were a lot of strange people at this 'Carni-vahl,' it seems."

"Well, sure, honey – it was kind of a freak show. But it's funny, now that you say that. Ben looked the most ordinary, Mama said – just a farm boy in overalls, working as a roustie and sleeping on the ground. But he was the strangest of all. Mama said he was the real thing, too. Lodz was real interested in him."

"Why?"

"Lodz knew all about this weird stuff. He had been involved with the Knights Templar in Europe, and knew all kinds of mystical rituals and things."

"The Knights Templar? But they're all gone. They died centuries ago – they were wiped out."

"Not all of them, apparently. The French ones were, but there were some in other countries that survived, and they knew about all kinds of strange rituals. Lodz was really into it. And he tried to teach it to Ben, but Ben didn't want anything to do with it."

"Is that how he fixed Granddad's knee? With something he learned from Lodz?"

"I'm not sure. But I think it was more that Ben had some kind of natural ability, and Lodz was teaching him how to use it. He did all that, and then he killed him."

"What? Ben died? Lodz killed him?"

"No, no. Ben killed Lodz."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. I don't think Mama knew either. She was really kind of confused about Ben. First, I think, to tell you the truth, she had more than a passing interest in him. Mama always did like young men!"

Betts reached for the drink she had been sipping to give her the courage to call this woman, and took a gulp.

"Are you telling me she slept with Ben?"

"No, but she wanted to. But Ruthie got there first."

"Ruthie? Who was Ruthie?"

"The snake charmer. Gabe's mother. Gabe's your uncle, yes?"

Betts spilled the drink. "Uncle Gabriel's mother slept with Ben?"

"Apparently. It was the talk of the Carnivale. Of course, that was before Ben got involved with Sofie."

"Sofie? Who was Sofie?"

"Apollonia's daughter. The one who read the Tarot cards. She left the Carnivale and joined up with the preacher."

"Ben and Sofie were a couple? That's weird."

"Weird? Why?"

"Well, I talked to a couple once named Ben and Sofie, at the carnival exhibit at Coney Island."

"Sure. Ben's a common name, and Sofie's not that unusual."

"But that wasn't the only time. My boyfriend said a couple named Ben and Sofie visited his grandfather just before he died. He worked for the Carnivale, too."

"Really? What was his name, honey?"

"Osgood. Charlie Osgood. He was a roustie, apparently."

"Osgood. Rings a faint bell. Maybe Mama mentioned him. That's odd, though, about the couple. What did they look like?"

"I don't remember, really. He was kind of ordinary-looking – medium height, brownish hair. She had dark hair – quite tall."

"I wish I knew what the Carnivale's Ben and Sofie looked like, but I don't think Mama ever really said. She did say that Ben didn't look like what he was, but when I asked about it, she wouldn't say. She talked about everything else to do with the Carnivale. But she didn't really talk about anything that happened after Ben was hurt the night of the riots. Maybe these were their grandchildren, visiting this Mr. Osgood?"

"Probably. What was that about riots?"

"One night they were doing a special show for some religious group, and people went crazy. People were killed, and Ben was badly hurt. He was ill for months, apparently."

"Religious group. Was that anything to do with the preacher you said Sofie was involved with?"

"Oh honey, how could it be? This all happened months after Sofie left. There were lots of preachers around then – it was the early days of radio, and some of those guys made a fortune. Funny about that couple, though. When Mama's mind was going, she used to say that Ben and Sofie visited her. To help her cross over, she said. I didn't take it seriously. She didn't really know who I was, even – she probably saw some people who looked a little like them, and her mind did the rest."

Betts thanked Marie DuVal for her time, and hung up, then sat staring at the phone thoughtfully. The more she learned about her grandparents' life, the stranger it got. Bad enough that her grandmother was a stripper, but now all this stuff about mysterious rituals and religious riots? And what kind of weird coincidence was it that these people named Ben and Sofie kept turning up? Marie DuVal must be right – they're another generation, staying in touch with their parents' and grandparents' friends. Still… every time she tried to learn about her grandparents, everybody seemed to bring up this Ben guy.

Samson nudged her elbow, and she patted him absently. He nudged again, and mewed at her.

"Oh, all right. Dinner it is." Betts put aside her musings about life seventy years in the past, and returned to her immediate present and her hungry cat.


End file.
